About the job Clinical Pharmacist
Role Overview:
The post holder will be an integral part of a multi-disciplinary team, working in a patient-facing role. They will manage targeted areas of chronic disease within the practice, conducting medication reviews to proactively handle patients with complex polypharmacy. They will support general practice staff with prescription and medication queries, handle acute prescription requests, manage medicines reconciliation on care transfers, and implement safer prescribing systems. Additionally, they will provide clinical medicines advice, addressing both public and social care needs of patients within the GP practice(s).
Key Responsibilities:
Clinical Guidance and Support: Work across various practices to provide clinical guidance on medicines optimization and quality improvement. Manage some aspects of the quality and outcomes framework and enhanced services.
Repeat Prescribing: Review and implement practice repeat prescribing policies. Ensure patients have appropriate monitoring tests in place when required.
Polypharmacy Management: Reduce inappropriate polypharmacy and wasteful prescribing. Conduct clinical medication reviews, including level 3 reviews, considering the full clinical condition of patients, such as blood monitoring and social isolation.
Medicines Reconciliation: Reconcile medicines following hospital discharge and collaborate with patients and community pharmacists to ensure they receive necessary post-discharge medications.
Patient Safety: Support efforts to reduce medicine-related hospital admissions and readmissions by helping patients achieve the best outcomes from their medications and addressing medicine-related issues.
Collaboration with Pharmacy Colleagues: Develop referral processes between primary care professionals and promote the repeat dispensing service. Interface with community and hospital pharmacy colleagues.
Prescription Management: Oversee the repeat prescribing reauthorization process, review requests for repeat prescriptions, and manage medicine queries from patients, practice staff, and other healthcare professionals.
Quality and Safety Improvement: Enhance the quality and safety of prescribing through audits and PDSA cycles. Manage practice formularies to improve prescribing practices. Implement drug withdrawals and alerts, such as those from the MHRA.
Guideline Implementation: Work with primary care professionals and patients to implement NICE and other evidence-based guidelines. Participate in clinics focused on medication interventions, such as anticoagulant monitoring and high-risk drug monitoring.
Patient Reviews: Contribute to patient-facing multi-morbidity long-term condition reviews and multi-disciplinary reviews. Review daily pathology results for patients on known medicines if required.
Education and Training: Serve as a source of medicines information for the practice team and patients, providing education and training on therapeutics and medicines optimization. Signpost to community pharmacy and refer to GPs or other healthcare professionals as appropriate.
Domiciliary and Care Home Reviews: Conduct medication reviews for domiciliary and care home patients, providing recommendations to nurses or GPs. Work with care home staff to improve the safety of medicine ordering and administration.
Confidentiality: Maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information related to patients, carers, practice staff, and the business. Only divulge information to authorized persons in accordance with practice policies.
Leadership and Development:
Take responsibility for personal development, learning, and performance, including participating in clinical supervision and acting as a positive role model.
Support the development of others to maximize their potential.
Promote the workplace as a learning environment, encouraging learning from internal and external best practices.
Lead in planning and implementing changes within the care area.
Develop local guidelines, protocols, and standards.
Promote the pharmacist's role in providing care and ensure awareness of support and guidance sources, such as PALS.
Health & Safety:
Promote and maintain health, safety, and security within the practice.
Use personal security systems according to practice guidelines.
Identify and manage risks in work activities and utilize training to update knowledge and skills.
Implement infection control procedures and maintain a tidy, safe work area.
Report potential risks and ensure safe storage, rotation, and disposal of vaccines and drugs.
Oversee the monitoring, stock control, and documentation of controlled drug usage according to legal requirements.
Undertake mandatory and statutory training and apply infection control measures according to guidelines.
Equality and Diversity:
Support the equality, diversity, and rights of patients, carers, and colleagues.
Act in a manner that recognizes and respects people's rights, privacy, dignity, needs, and beliefs.
Behave in a welcoming, non-judgmental manner that respects individual circumstances and rights.
Personal/Professional Development:
Participate in training programs and annual individual performance reviews.
Take responsibility for personal development, learning, and performance.
Demonstrate skills and activities to others undertaking similar work.
Quality:
Strive to maintain quality within the practice.
Work within competence and professional code of conduct.
Produce accurate and complete records of patient consultations.
Assess care delivery effectiveness through self and peer review, benchmarking, and formal evaluation.
Contribute to team effectiveness by reflecting on team activities and suggesting improvements.
Collaborate with individuals in other agencies to meet patient needs.
Communication:
Communicate effectively with team members, patients, and carers.
Recognize and respond to the need for alternative communication methods.
Service Implementation:
Apply practice policies, standards, and guidance.
Participate in audits and discuss the impact of policies, standards, and guidelines on work with team members.